"Access to land is one of the key issues for developing countries - and Brazil has one of the most inequitable land distributions in the world, with vast tracts of land held by often absentee landowners. Meanwhile thousands of peasants live in marginal lands in cities and rural areas." "The Brazilian Landless Workers' Movement (MST) has proved a huge success with the disenfrachised rural and urban poor in Brazil - becoming one of the largest social movements in the world. Cutting the Wire is the first account in English of the origins, history and current challenges faced by Brazil's poor majority. The authors have travelled the vast expanse of the country to record the words and actions of hundreds of activists who have taken their lives into their own hands."--Jacket.